LONDON - In the run-up to the Ministry of Defence's selection of a prime contractor for the Royal Navy's two new 50,000-ton aircraft carriers (CVFs), unofficially expected to be announced Jan. 30, industry opinion is divided on whether BAE Systems or Thales will lead the program. BAE Systems has not endeared itself to the MOD with major delays and cost overruns on several of its major military procurement programs, including the Eurofighter and Nimrod MRA.4 aircraft and Astute submarines.
Astrium will design and build the Venus Express spacecraft for the European Space Agency (ESA) under an 82.4 million euro ($90.6 million) contract, the company said Jan. 28. Venus Express, which would be the first European spacecraft to visit Venus, is scheduled to launch in November 2005 from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The program has cut costs by reusing the design of the Mars Express spacecraft and spare instruments from that program and the Rosetta spacecraft.
ThalesRaytheonSystems will upgrade Norwegian air force TPQ-36A air surveillance radars under a $45 million contract, the Raytheon-Thales Group joint venture said Jan. 27. The upgrade kits include new power transmitter amplifiers, receivers/exciters, signal/data processors and antenna motor controllers. The kits will convert the systems into units similar to the newer AN/MPQ-64 Sentinel Air Defense Radars, according to the joint venture.
Fourth quarter profits for Northrop Grumman Corp. jumped 71 percent over a year ago due to earnings from its recently acquired Newport News Shipbuilding unit, company officials said Jan. 28. Earnings for the former TRW military and space units, which were acquired in mid December, were not included in the 2002 results.
House and Senate panels are gearing up to consider legislation that could influence the modernization of the nation's air traffic control system and authorize future funding for the FAA's research and development activities. The House Science Committee likely will hold hearings on FAA authorization legislation sometime in March, according to a committee spokeswoman.
Two glitches that hampered the V-22 Osprey's shipboard flight tests earlier this month are not considered serious problems for the at-risk program, a Navy official says. An oil leak and a warning light on Aircraft No. 10 cost the program precious hours of flight tests aboard the USS Iwo Jima during the week of Jan. 13.
MOSCOW - Russia has proposed building a reusable spacecraft to serve as a cargo vehicle and crew return ship for the International Space Station. The proposed vehicle was discussed during a Russian-European Space Agency workshop held here last week. The spacecraft should be launched from ESA's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, and could cut delivery costs to the station to as little as $5,000 per kilogram ($2,300 per pound), officials said.
Boeing's recent agreement with Italian aerospace and defense giant Finmeccanica may be another way the company is hoping to drive a wedge between European companies and rival aircraft maker Airbus Industrie, according to a U.S. aircraft analyst.
NASA successfully launched its Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) satellite Jan. 25 aboard a Pegasus XL rocket, the aerospace agency announced Jan. 27. SORCE will study the sun's influence on the Earth, measuring how it affects the ozone layer, atmospheric circulation, clouds, and oceans. SORCE's four instruments will begin calibration and data collection roughly three weeks after launch, according to NASA.
NEW DELHI - Antrix Corp., the marketing arm of the Indian Space and Research Organization (ISRO), has signed an agreement with Nanyang Technology University of Singapore to launch a microsatellite. The university's remote sensing satellite is to be launched in 2006 aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle.
Lockheed Martin has completed two out of three planned demonstrations in which it has extended the effective range of the Navy's Cooperative Engagement Capability (CEC) system by sending data through a Milstar satellite. CEC is a distributed sensor network that links shipborne, airborne and land-based radars to allow multiple ships and aircraft to track and share information on aircraft and missile threats (DAILY, May 31, 2002).
PRAGUE - Nearly 40 percent of the Czech air force's 13,000 staff are to be dismissed over the next few years as part of wide-ranging army reforms, according to air force commander Jan Vachek. The 5,000 job losses, which will be phased in between 2003 and 2006, will include civilian posts and ground personnel. Pilots are not expected to be affected.
European electronics giant Sagem said Jan. 27 that the French military's next tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) has had successful first trial flights. The System de Drone Tactique Intermediare (SDTI) is adapted from the Sagem Sperwer UAV, which already is in use by the Dutch, Danish and Swedish militaries. Sweden refers to the Sperwer drone as the UGGLAN.
GMD RADAR: The Missile Defense Agency Jan. 27 awarded a $747.5 million contract modification to the Boeing Co. to finish developing a sea-based X-band radar that will support the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. Raytheon Electronic Systems, a major subcontractor, will do much of the work. MDA hopes to have the radar ready for use by 2005.
Legislation designed to spur the development of new commercial space launch vehicles could get another chance in the new 108th Congress. Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), who introduced the bill in the last Congress, is considering offering similar legislation this year, a spokeswoman for the congressman said Jan. 27.
Raytheon Co. will continue to explore small acquisition possibilities in 2003 to improve its offerings in intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) technologies and other areas, Raytheon Chairman and CEO Daniel Burnham said Jan. 27. "They have to be technology-rich [and] defense-related. They have to bolt on to capabilities we already have, be easy to digest and don't upset the balance sheet," Burnham told executives and analysts at the 10th Annual Bear Stearns Aerospace and Defense conference in New York.
The House Science Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee are planning hearings to help them write NASA authorization legislation this year. The Science Committee expects to hear from John Marburger, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), on Feb. 13 and from NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe on Feb. 27. Marburger and O'Keefe are scheduled to discuss the Bush Administration's fiscal 2004 budget request, due Feb. 3.
The Air Force is considering privatizing the job of visually inspecting and processing excess weapons platform parts being resold under the $12 billion Foreign Military Sales (FMS) system. The Air Force Security Assistance Center (AFSAC) at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, is studying the market for a possible support deal, contracting officer Debbie Bucher said. Her office is soliciting interested small and disadvantaged businesses for the potential contract.
Northrop Grumman Corp. has won an $8 million contract that could grow to over $100 million to quickly install a new infrared countermeasures system (IRCM) on U.S. Special Operations Command MH-53 helicopters. "This contract will meet U.S. Special Operation Command's urgent requirement to install as many systems as soon as possible to protect the war fighter," the Department of Defense said in announcing the contract on Jan. 24.
LONDON - The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD) has awarded BAE Systems a 150 million pound ($240 million) follow-on contract to continue modernizing and sustaining the U.K.'s Joint Force Harrier (JFH) fleet. Mission system enhancements for the GR.7 ground-attack aircraft, to meet GR.9 standards, mainly will include software development and the flight testing of new and updated digital avionics.
NEW POLICY: Many of the contract disputes between BAE Systems and the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) could be resolved if a new industrial policy is implemented, according to Charles Armitage, global aerospace coordinator with Merrill Lynch. A new industrial policy paper published by the MOD last October recommends a better risk/reward system for fixed-price research and development contracts with high technological risks.
